Editorial: School boards should examine their child-abuse reporting policies

Editorial: School boards should examine their child-abuse reporting policies

Safety and security should be as high a priority for schools as is providing education. School employees and administrators have an all-important obligation to report allegations of child sexual abuse to proper authorities. This requirement isn’t merely common sense — it’s a mandate specifically set forth in Nebraska state law. If school employees, of whatever level, witness or suspect alleged abuse, they must report the matter, or cause a report to be made, to law enforcement or to the Nebraska child abuse hotline at 800-652-1999. The reporting policies in place at Omaha- area school districts vary considerably, however, The World-Herald’s ...